APPLICATION OF SOLID STATE SVS AS A DYNAMIC COMPENSATOR OF AC TRANSMISSION LINES

Abstract:
This paper describes a novel approach in which solid state synchronous voltage sources are employed for the dynamic compensation and real time control of power flow in transmission sys. Synchronous voltage source is implemented by multi pulse inverter using gate turn off devices(GTO) thyristors. It is capable of generating internally by the reactive power necessary for n/w compensation and is also able to interface with an appropriate energy storage devices to negotiate real power exchange with the ac system. The paper develops comprehensive treatment of power flow control using solid state synchronous voltage sources for shunt compensation, series compensation and phase angle control . It also describes UPFC that is also able to control concurrently or selectively all three n/w parameters voltage, impedance , transmission angle) determining power transmission. Comparison of the synchronous voltage sources approach with the more conventional compensation method of employing thyristor- switched capacitors and vectors shows its superior performance (including the unmatched capability of using both real and reactive power compensation to counteract dynamic disturbance),uniform applicability smaller physical size, and potentially lower overall cost . Keywords: ac transmission, FACTS,GTO , series and shunt compensation, phase angle regulator , thyristor, static var compensator

Introduction :
It is a well established practice to use reactive power compensation to increase the transmittable power in ac power system.Fixed or mechanically switched capacitors and reactors have long been employed to increase steady state power transmission by controlling the voltage profile along the lines. The utility industry is facing unprecedented problems related to energy cost, environmental ,social, and regulator issues , as well as to perform changes in industrial structure& geographic shifts of highly populated areas .The power demand has shown a steady but geographically uneven growth . The available power generation is often not close to the growing load center. Power exportation and importation requires the interconnection of independent power systems into an ever growing grid, in which individual transmission system may play no other part but to wheel the power from the exporting system to the importing one. The power flow in the individual lines of the transmission grid is determined by their X and it often can not be restricted to the desired power corridors as result power flow loops develops and creation lines become overloaded, with the overall effect of deteriorating voltage profiles and decrease system stability.

Power Flow control by solid-state synchronous voltage sources: Conventional Thyristor-Controlled Power Flow Controllers
Most of the presently used, or proposed, power flow controllers like SVC, controllable series compensators, phase-shifters and equivalent devices applied in the transmission system for dynamic reactive compensation and power flow control employ conventional thyristors circuit arrangements which are similar to breaker-switched capacitors and reactors, and mechanically operated tapchanging transformers have much faster response & are operated by sophisticated controls. All of these have common characteristic in that necessary reactive power required for the compensation is

generated or absorbed by capacitor or reactor banks, and the thyristor switches are used only for the control of the combined reactive impedeace these banks present to system during successive periods of the applied voltage.Conventional thyristor-controlled compensators present a variable change the system impedance. The conventional thyristor-controlled power flow controllers are not described in this paper, but are used as benchmarks to evaluate the operating and performance characteristics of the proposed state synchronous compensators.

General Concept of Synchronous Voltage Source:

Although rotating condenser exhibits number of desirable functional characteristics (high capacitive output current at low system voltages & inductive source impedance that cant cause harmonic resonance with the transmission network), suffers from a no. of operating shortcomings, lacks the application flexibility needed to meet the power control requirements of modern transmission systems. The solid-state synchronous voltage source considered in this paper is analogous to an ideal synchronous machine generating balanced three phase sinusoidal voltages, at the fundamental frequency, with controllable amplitude and phase angle. This ideal machine has no inertia, its response is practically instantaneous, it does not significantly alter the existing system impedance, and it can internally generate reactive power. Further, it can dynamically exchange P with ac system if it is coupled to an appropriate energy source that can supply or absorb the power it supplies to, or absorbs from, the ac system.

Fig. 1. Solid state voltage source

A functional model of the solid-state synchronous voltage source is shown in Figure 1. Reference signals Qref & Pref define the amplitude V and phase angle of the of the generated o/p voltage and thereby P-Q exchange betwn the solid-state voltage source and the ac system. If the function of dynamic real power exchange is not required (P ref = 0), the SVS becomes a self sufficient reactive power source, like an ideal synchronous condenser, and the external energy storage can be disposed of.

Implementation of Synchronous Voltage Source :

The syn. SVS can be implemented by various switching power converters. However, the switching converter considered here is the VSI. This particular dc to ac switching power converter, using gate turn-off (GTO) thyristors in appropriate multi-pulse inverter circuit configurations, is presently considered the most practical for high power utility applications. However, the functional and operating characteristics of this type of inverters, which provide the basic functional building block for compensation & power flow control approach are summarized below. An elementary, six-pulse, voltage-sourced inverter onsists of 6 self-commutated semiconsductor (GTO) switches, each of which is shunted by a reverse-parallel connected diode. (in a high power inverter, each solid-state switch consists of a number of series-connected GTO thyristor/di state pairs.) With a dc voltage source ( like charged capacitor), the inverter can produce a balanced set of three quasi-square voltage waveforms of a given frequency by connecting the dc source sequentially to the three output terminals via the appropriate inverter switches. The switching converter considered here is voltage sourced inverter using GTO thyristors. The o/p voltage waveform of the elementary six-pulse inverter contains harmonic component harmonic components with frequencies of [6k+1] If (and its input current has related related harmonic components with frequencies of 6kf). The high harmonic content of the output voltage makes this simple inverter impractical for high power applications. Using the principle of harmonic neutralization, the input and output of a basic six-pulse inverters can be combined so as to obtain overall P = 6n multi-pulse structure. The frequencies of the harmonics present in the output voltage is equal to pulse number minus one, and the lowest harmonic in the input current is equal to the pulse number minus one and of voltage wave is proportional to l/ [Pk+1] and that of the dc supply current to 1/Pk. Multi-pulse (harmonic neutralized ) inverters can be implemented by a variety of circuit arrangements using different magnetic devices. The output voltage (and dc supply current) waveforms obtained are essentially the same. A p = 6n inverter structure is shown schematically in Figure 2a, and the output voltage and current waveforms for P = 48 (n = 8) are shown in Figure 2b. The reactive power exchange between the inverter and the ac system (Fig2a, ) voltage is increased above that of the ac system voltage, then the current flows through the reactive (capacitive) power for the ac system. If the amplitude of the output voltage is decreased below that of the ac system, then the reactive current flows from the ac system to the inverter and the inverter absorbs reactive (inductive) power. If the output voltage is equal to the ac system voltage, the reactive power exchange is zero. Similarly, the real power exchange between the inverter and the as system can be controlled by phase-shifting the inverter output voltage with respect to the system voltage. That is, the inverter from its dc energy storage supplies real power to the ac system if the inverter output voltage is made to lead the corresponding ac system voltage.

Fig. 2a Six-pulse inverter modules Fib.2b Output voltage and current wave form of 48 pulse inverter

The mechanism by which the inverter internally generates reactive power can be explained, without considering the detailed operation of the solid-state switch array(s) the inverter is composed of, simply by considering the relationship between the output and input powers of the inverter by the process of energy transfer through the inverter which is absolutely direct the net instantaneous power at the ac output terminals must always be equal to power at the dc input terminals (neglecting losses). Assume that the inverter is operated to supply only reactive output power. In this case, the real input power provided by the dc source by definition is zero. Since reactive power at zero frequency by definition is zero, the dc source supplies no input power and so it clearly plays no part in the generation of the reactive output power. Viewing this from the terminals of the ac system, the inverter establishes a circulating power exchange among the phases. The need for the dc capacitor is primarily required to satisfy the above stipulated equality of the instantaneous output and input powers. The output voltage waveform of the inverter is not a perfect sine-wave. (As shown in Figure 2b, it is staircase approximation of a sine-wave.)

Shunt Compensation by Synchronous Voltage Source : General Compensation Scheme :

A shunt-connected solid-state synchronous voltage source, composed of a multi-pulse, voltagesourced inverter and a dc energy storage device is shown in Fig.3a., it can be considered as a perfect sinusoidal synchronous voltage source behind a coupling reactance provided by the leakage inductance of the coupling transformer. If the energy storage is of suitable rating, the SVS, can be

controlled independently of each other, and any combination of P generation/absorption is possible, as illustrated in Figure 3b.

Fig 3. Shunt connected SVS (a) & its operating modes (b) for P-Q generation

The real power that the SVS exchanges at its ac terminals with the ac system must, of course, be supplied to, or absorbed from, its dc terminals by the energy storage device. By contrast, the reactive power exchanged is internally generated by the SVS, without the dc energy storage device playing any significant part in it.

Reactive Power Compensation Scheme:

If the SVS is used only for reactive shunt compensation, like a conventional static var compensator, then the dc energy storage device can be replaced by a small capacitor, In this case, the steady-state power exchange between the SVS and the ac system can only be reactive. The STATCON can provide both capacitive and inductive range independently of the ac system voltage. The STATCON is superior to the SVC in providing voltage support. Indeed, a STATCON in a variety of applications can perform the same dynamic compensation as an SVC of considerably higher rating. The STATCON has an increased transient rating in both the inductive and capacitive operating regions. The inherently available transient rating of the STATCON is dependent on the characteristics of the power semi-conductors used and the junction temperature at which the devices are operated.

Control of Synchronous Shunt Compensator :

A functional scheme to control a synchronous voltage source used as a shunt compensatior is shown in figure 4. Together with the Thevenins equivalent of the ac power system. The terminal voltage vt of the ac power system is assumed to be subjected to dynamic amplitude and the ac system is assumed to be subjected to dynamic amplitude and frequency variations due to load and system changes, as well as disturbances causing angular machine excursions.

Fig. 4 Control scheme for SVS as a shunt compensator

Series Compensation by Synchronous Voltage Source :

General Compensation Scheme

Fig. 5. Series connected SVS (a) and its operating modes (b) for PQ exchanges

A solid-state synchronous voltage source, considering of a multi-pulse, voltage-sourced inverter and a dc energy storage device, is shown in series with the transmission line in Figure 5b. In general, the real and reactive power exchange is controlled by the phase displacement of the injected voltage with respect to the line current. For example, if the injected voltage is in phase with the line current, then only real power is injected voltage is in phase with the line current, then only real power is exchanged, and if it is in quadrature with line current then only reactive power is exchanged.

Reactive Series Compensator:

The concept of using the synchronous SVS for series reactive compensation is based on the fact that the impedance versus frequency characteristic of the conventionally employed series capacitor, in contrast to filter applications, plays no part in accomplishing the desired line compensation. The function of the series capacitor is simply to produce an appropriate voltage at the fundamental component of the line becomes electrically equivalent to that of a shorter line. So, if an

ac voltage source of fundamental frequency, ch is locked with a quadrature (lagging) relationship to the line current and whose amplitude is made proportional to that of the line current is injected in series with the line, a series compensation equivalent to that provided by a series capacitor at the fundamental frequency is obtained. This voltage source can be defined as follows : Vc = - jkXI where Vc is the injected compensating voltage phasor, I is the line current phasor, X is the series reactive line impedance, k is the degree of series compensation k is defined as Xc/X, where Xc is the impedance of the series capacitor), k is the degree of series compensation (for conventional series compensation k is defined as Xc/X, where Xc is the impedance of the series capacitor). The effect of this compensation on the transmittable power can be seen the expression, P = ( V2/X(1-k) sin , given3 for a simple two machine system with a k that is continuously variable (0 < k < 1).

Control of Series Synchronous Compensator :

A simple control scheme for the synchronous voltage source operated as a generalized series compensator is shown I fig. 6. The control scheme has two major functions. One function is to establish the desired series reactive (capacitive or inductive) compensation as defined by an externally provided reference, Zg. The second functions is to modulate the series reactive compensation so as to improve transient system stability and provide power oscillation damping. Conclusion : Comparison of the synchronous voltage sources approach with the more conventional
compensation method of employing thyristor- switched capacitors and vectors shows its superior performance (including the unmatched capability of using both real and reactive power compensation to counteract dynamic disturbance),uniform applicability smaller physical size, and potentially lower overall cost .